Work under this project has involved the production of human and mouse monoclonal antibodies against malignant melanoma. Goals of the project are to identify antigens present on human melanoma and to determine if any of these antigens are tumor-specific or melanoma specific. Antigens identified by monoclonal antibodies are characterized with respect to physical properties and tissue distribution. Tumor-specific monoclonal antibodies are used to study several aspects of the immunobiology of human melanoma. One specific aspect under investigation is whether or not melanoma patients respond immunologically to their autologous tumors.